Kennedy Brewer: In 2008, the state of Mississippi exonerated him and Levon Brooks. Each had been accused of sexually assaulting and killing a 3-year-old girl. Brewer was sentenced to death in 1995, and Brooks to life in 1992. Pathologist Dr. Steven Hayne brought in purported bite-mark expert Michael West to examine the girls’ bodies. In each case, West claimed he found bite marks on the girls and identified Brewer and Brooks as the culprits. The bite marks turned out to be bites from pond creatures. DNA tests revealed the real killer, Justin Albert Johnson, who confessed to the rapes and murders of the girls and was sentenced to life without parole.
Sabrina Butler: In 1990, a jury convicted her of murdering her 9-month-old son and sentenced her to death. She became the only woman on Mississippi’s death row. A prosecution error led the Mississippi Supreme Court to give her a new trial, where an expert testified in 1995 that the child’s injuries could have been caused by life-saving efforts. A jury acquitted her.
Eddie Lee Howard Jr.: In 1994, a jury convicted him of murdering an 84-year-old woman. He represented himself at trial. The main evidence against him? Alleged bite marks identified by the same purported expert, West, whose testimony led to the wrongful convictions of Kenney Brewer and Levon Brooks. In 1997, the Mississippi Supreme Court sent his case back for a new trial, and three years later, he was convicted again, largely because of the bite-mark evidence. In 2020, the Mississippi Supreme Court concluded that bite-mark evidence was junk science, and authorities exonerated Howard.
Willie Manning: In 1996, a jury convicted him of murdering an elderly woman and her daughter in Starkville. In 2015, the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered a new trial after it was revealed that the key prosecution witness, Kevin Lucious, wasn’t living in the apartment where he supposedly spotted Manning going into the women’s home — a detail authorities kept hidden from the defense. In 2015, the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered a new trial, and authorities exonerated Manning.
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